xxvi Introduction. 



The exploits of the American " long-nosed god," 

 (Chac of the Mayas ; Tlaloc of the Aztecs) as depicted in 

 the ancient codices, clearly reveal that this elephant- 

 headed deity is none other than Indra, the famous Vedic 

 deity of India, confused with Ganesa in the process of 

 transmission, and modified in certain respects by Cambo- 

 dian and Indonesian influences. 20 In this book Mr. Jackson 

 has called attention to other equally definite examples of 

 late Hindu influence in America, in which certain of the 

 avatars of Vishnu reappear in America in unmistakable 

 form. 



The episodes to which he has called 'attention are 

 complexly interwoven with the early mythology not only 

 of India but also of Babylonia and Egypt. For they are 

 part of the story of the creation and of the deluge, and 

 intimately related to the early history of the dragon and 

 of the Naga kings, whose palace of treasures was at the 

 bottom of the ocean. The genesis of this remarkable 

 story is closely connected not only with the use of the 

 conch-shell trumpet, but also with the search for pearls. 

 Something of the symbolism of the cowry is attached to 

 these " pearls that grant every desire." 21 



I have already referred to the custom, in various parts 

 of Africa and elsewhere, of placing cowries in the grave 

 or with the king's relics to secure the continued existence 

 of the dead. Sometimes the cowries were placed in the 

 mouth. The two-fold significance of the cowry the 

 belief in its vitalising powers and its use as currency led 

 to a confusion between these two properties, and was 

 responsible for the origin of a remarkable custom. The 



20 "Pre-Columbian Representations of the Elephant in America,'' 

 Nature, Dec. 16, 1915. 



- 1 Compare M. W. de Visser, " The Dragon in China and Japan," 

 Amsterdam, 1913. 



